Late life

The Rockets stumbled through the first inning.

The second went a lot smoother, but they still missed the spark needed to turn the game around.

With two outs in the third inning, they finally got the jump start they needed as a two-out blast tied the game.

The Portland Rockets got a two-run home run from Aidyn Coffey that swung the momentum in their favor, leading to a 11-3 victory over the Muncie Chiefs on Tuesday.

“When you pitch well and defend and get timely hitting, you have a good chance at a winning combination,” said Rockets coach Randy Miller. “They got three cheap runs in the first inning, but then we shut them down.”

Trailing 3-1 in the third inning, the first two Rockets’ batters popped the ball up for consecutive outs. Dylan Brammer reached base with a single to the right side to extend the inning.

With two outs, Coffey came to the plate and watched a first-pitch strike. He took the second pitch for a ride over the wall in deep center field to tie the game up.

“I was sitting fastball middle,” Coffey said. “The first pitch was inside and I didn’t like it. I just told myself to sit back, relax the hands and be easy to the ball and good things happen.”

The Rockets didn’t get anymore runs in the third inning, but they scored one run in each of the following four innings before putting up four in the eighth.

Cameron Pratt reached on an error in the fourth inning and got driven in on a double by Cade Meade. Kade Muth started the fifth with his own double and Landen Rogers’ single drove him in. A walk and a single put runners on first and second in the sixth so that Blake Caldwell could plate one with a double to shallow left field. Three consecutive walks and a passed ball scored Muth in the seventh inning.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes is that little mojo to get things going,” Coffey said. “Then it all builds from there.”

Peyton Smith got the offense started in the eighth inning with a walk before Joel Kennedy’s double got him to third base. Pratt pushed Smith across the plate and reached first himself on an error by Gavin Lash at third base.

Another double by Caldwell scored Kennedy and put runners on second and third again. The runners scored on a single by Meade and a throwing error by catcher Jayce Key.

Second baseman Cameron Pratt dives to stop a ball during the Portland Rockets’ 11-3 win over Muncie Central on Tuesday. Pratt scored a pair of runs and drove another in during the win. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

The Rockets had a rough first inning and the Chiefs capitalized for three early runs.

Jared Holley walked Cole Luedike to open the game. Landen Eppard followed up with a flyball to center field that Muth mishandled, allowing Luedike to score and Eppard to reach second base.

Holley struck out the No. 3 hitter for the first out, but Landon Weller smoked a double to right field to plate the second run of the inning. Weller came around to score two batters later after Key reached first on an error by Coffey at third base.

After the error riddled first inning – there were three total – the Rockets stayed clean for the rest of the game.

“Good players have a way of making the adjustments,” Miller said. “A lot of it is defensive rhythm, (like when) the pitcher picks it up, works quickly and throws strikes to keep us in the game.

“If you’re throwing balls like Jared did to start the game, we get a little lax, lose our mojo and aren’t defensively set. But if you’re engaged, the tempo dictates the course of the game and that’s how we cleaned it up.”

Holley earned the win after giving up the three unearned runs on three hits and three walks in four innings. After Holley, Brammer threw three innings with only a hit batter and one walk before Vasin Ridgeway ended the game on the bump with on runs allowed despite two hits in the ninth.